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Mark Your Calendars for June 2
A congregational meeting will be held on June 2 at 12:30. Along with elections, budget items and a possible vote on Kristen’s ordination will be a reveal of the site plan for the new building! Architect Peter Ewers will be in attendance to explain the drawings and answer your questions. After the meeting, join Peter and the Building Expansion Team in the social hall and foyer for a close-up view of the plans. Please keep in mind that these are not final plans. Things will change as we consider our budget and get more input from you and our experts. We will provide a place for you to share comments and chat with each other and with Peter while enjoying cookies and lemonade. Please try to join us.
Parking
We hear a lot of comments about parking. I didn’t know – and I expect many of you may not know – that the city not only requires a minimum amount of parking, but also sets a maximum. Perhaps this is an attempt to encourage other means of transportation. If our new sanctuary holds 400 people, our minimum number of spaces is 100. We already have close to that. The maximum is 133. So, while we may be able to add some spots, we can’t expect everyone to be able to park in our lots when they come to church. If those of us who are able will ride bikes, walk or park on the street a few blocks away, the spots in the lot will be available for those who have less mobility. A group of members has been looking into alternatives such as renting nearby lots, shuttle service, carpooling apps, etc., but so far, we have not met with a great deal of success. We’ve also been told that changing the automobile culture is nearly impossible. I hope that isn’t true.
There has been a strongly stated view that sustainability is one of our major goals for this project. Can we extend the sustainability of the building to our choices in how to get to church? Can we consider our desire to be good neighbors and be a model in the community when choosing our transportation? These are hard questions. We’ll provide some options for you to share your views this summer.
Looking Back
In April we had a startup meeting with the capital campaign team to share information and expectations. We also created a project plan to get us through the summer. The major tasks are to fill in the pieces in the budget related to furnishings and equipment. This will involve an inventory of what we have on hand and conversations with staff about what we can keep and what will need to be added.
Looking Ahead
This month we are preparing for the annual meeting. We will schedule a meeting with the city to share our preliminary plans to the city so we can address any concerns before we get into final design and the permitting process. A survey, an asbestos assessment and a soils report will be needed. Those could be completed this summer before we start the capital campaign. We will also be working on our budgeting tasks.
Your Input Wanted
Beginning in June, we will be collecting your input on a variety of topics. Each Sunday we will pose a question. A board with sticky notes will be available for you to post your answers. The Building Expansion Team will collect and share the responses. Tell us what you like or want to see, not what you hate! Some of the topics we anticipate are parking, art, playgrounds, some landscaping topics and name tags. If you have any areas you’d like to suggest, talk to a member of the team or send an e-mail to our mailbox.
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Help Wanted
If you’d be interested in helping with inventory, send an email with your availability over the summer to our mailbox. Or sign up on the church service page.
We are also looking for someone with video experience. We’d like to share some short clips expressing different members’ views of the building project.
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The Building Expansion Team is Karen Johnese, Peg MacMorris, Chris Bettlach, Jerry Hanley and Margaret Cottam. You can reach us at buildingexpansion@foothillsuu.org. If you are not receiving this newsletter by e-mail, you can sign up at https://foothillsuu.org/teams/building-expansion/
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Questions and ideas? Email us or visit us on the Foothills website.
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